Conducting Market Research For Online Course Topics: 9 Steps

Picking a successful online course topic can feel overwhelming. You might be wondering: Will people even want this? Can it stand out in a crowded marketplace? Trust me, you’re not alone—figuring out what learners actually want can be tricky.

Good news though: if you’re looking for clarity, you’ve come to the right place. I’ll walk you through simple steps for conducting market research, finding out what learners need, and ensuring your course idea hits the mark.

Let’s jump right in—here’s exactly what we’ll cover.

1. Determine Your Course Objectives

Figuring out exactly what you want your online course to achieve is the very first thing you’ll want to tackle.

Forget the vague stuff like “I want to teach marketing;” instead, focus on specific learning outcomes—things your students can actually do once they’ve gone through your materials.

Ask yourself, “What skills or knowledge should students walk away with after finishing this course?” and write these out clearly.

For example, instead of “learn coding,” aim for something concrete like “build a basic website using HTML and CSS.”

This helps not only your students but you too, making the rest of your course creation process way easier.

Plus, clear objectives make marketing your course straightforward because your prospective learners immediately understand what they’re getting into.

And as the online learning market is booming—projected to reach a value of $686.9 billion by 2030 in the US alone—you really want to nail your objectives, positioning your course well in this growing space.

2. Identify Your Target Audience

Before you even touch your lesson plans or videos, stop and picture exactly who you’re creating this course for.

Trying to make a course for everyone is like making a meal that appeals to everyone’s taste buds—it rarely works.

Are you aiming for beginners who know absolutely nothing yet, or experienced learners looking to level up specific skills?

Think about their age, profession, interests, or even lifestyle, and tailor your course accordingly.

Take online coding courses, for example; some target absolute beginners who’ve never seen code before, while others are specifically designed for experienced programmers switching languages.

Once you clearly pinpoint your audience, you can create engaging educational videos and resources that speak directly to them, making your course far more effective.

3. Analyze Market Needs

Just because you like a course idea doesn’t mean everyone else will.

Analyzing market needs can save you loads of time and effort down the line, so it’s smart to do this research upfront.

One quick way to gauge market demand is by checking popular online learning platforms like Teachable or Thinkific to see which types of courses sell best.

For instance, business courses currently pull in around 30% of online course completions, with computer science and IT following at about 19%.

Another easy trick is visiting online forums and communities like Reddit or LinkedIn groups related to your topic to spot common questions or requests.

This kind of “real-world” feedback helps you create online course ideas that actually interest people, rather than guessing wildly and hoping for the best.

Keep in mind that 57 million people are expected to enroll in online courses by 2027, confirming there’s definitely a growing market—but you still need to make sure your content solves real, specific problems for people.

4. Conduct Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis isn’t just something big businesses do; it can actually make or break your online course success.

Before diving headfirst into content creation, spend some time checking out existing courses that cover your topic.

Hop onto learning platforms like Udemy or Coursera and see what’s out there already, noting down details such as course titles, pricing, student reviews, and even instructor styles.

See what people love and what frustrates them by reading through customer feedback in the review sections.

This little research sprint helps you pinpoint gaps in the market—basically areas your competitors aren’t addressing well enough.

If everyone complains that a popular Photoshop course doesn’t include enough practical examples, yours might stand out by doing exactly that.

Instead of guessing how much to charge later on, you can also observe how successful instructors price their courses—saving you stress when you’re trying to figure out how to price your course.

5. Choose Effective Research Methods

Picking the right research methods ensures you actually build something your audience needs and is willing to pay for.

A quick survey on Google Forms or SurveyMonkey can gather valuable insights about potential students’ needs, preferences, and problems, all within hours.

Consider interviews or casual conversations with your target audience—maybe arrange a Zoom call or ask people directly in relevant Facebook Groups.

You could even share a simple question or two on LinkedIn or Twitter to get fast and candid answers from potential students.

For deeper data, tools like Google Trends reveal whether your course topics have rising or declining popularity, so you don’t accidentally hop on a trend that’s losing steam.

Mixing quantitative insights (charts, graphs, statistics) with qualitative feedback (opinions, feelings, desires) will give you a clearer, fuller picture.

6. Design a Research Plan

A good research plan doesn’t have to be complicated or fancy—it’s just a clear action plan to keep your efforts organized.

First off, pick two easy-to-execute research methods that match your available time, skill set, and goals.

If you’re busy or working alone, surveys and forum research might fit better sooner than scheduling tons of lengthy live interviews.

Then sketch out basic timelines, like spending the first week just surveying your networks, the second week reading competitive reviews and forums, and maybe a third rounding up your findings.

Your goal is to have super-transparent milestones that can be quickly measured and reviewed, so you’re less tempted to procrastinate or lose steam.

To keep it simple, consider using Google Sheets or Notion to neatly organize findings—giving you a clear snapshot of what you’ve covered and what’s still ahead.

7. Collect and Analyze Data

Collecting and analyzing your findings sounds a bit nerdy and intimidating, but it’s actually simple and crucial for shaping your online course.

As responses and insights start pouring in from your survey, screenshots, or interview notes, just keep them neatly grouped in digital folders or spreadsheets by topic or source.

When analyzing, look for repeated themes popping up again and again across different people or situations—because these recurring nuggets hold your best clues.

Say your research consistently shows confusion about certain terms or processes; plan video content that clearly addresses those sticking points.

By genuinely understanding and responding directly to your audience’s stated problems or wishes, you’re reducing the risk of creating something no one wants to buy.

While analyzing might initially feel tedious, remember it saves time and effort later—just like measuring ingredients before cooking saves a kitchen disaster.

8. Apply Research Insights to Course Development

Now your research finally turns into action.

Organize your collected feedback in a practical way—maybe divide responses into categories that directly inform your lessons, examples, quizzes, or resources.

For instance, if multiple people mentioned wanting hands-on projects, include practical exercises, assignments, or downloadable workbooks in your lessons.

A quick tactic here is creating a rough course syllabus first, which makes putting everything together so much easier.

If you’re unsure how exactly to do that, this guide on how to create a course syllabus gives you step-by-step directions to structure your lessons clearly.

Make things easy for yourself by designing bite-sized lessons and applying effective teaching strategies to improve student engagement and retention as you build each section.

9. Monitor and Adapt Post-Launch

Your job isn’t done once your course goes live.

Monitoring student feedback and performance right after launching helps you quickly identify potential issues or improvements.

If early students often get stuck or confused on lesson 3, don’t avoid that situation—address it directly by editing the lesson content or adding clarifying resources.

Regularly checking course analytics like completion rates or quiz scores—and yes, you can easily learn how to make effective quizzes for students to measure comprehension—allows you to spot problems before they become huge hurdles.

It’s all about being responsive to feedback and flexible enough to tweak things along the way if needed, giving your students real value and you less stress in the long run.

And remember, considering the number of people taking online courses will rise to 57 million by 2027, fine-tuning your course proactively positions you greatly in a booming competitive space.

FAQs